East London surfer attacked by shark2011-07-22 14:32Cape Town - An East London man is recovering in a local hospital after being attacked by a shark while surfing at Cinsta East on Friday morning, a National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson told News24.

"Before 10:00 a 27-year-old local male surfing at Cinsta East was bitten on the lower right leg and upper left arm by an unknown species of shark," Craig Lambinon said.

A local ambulance service responded to the scene and transported the surfer, who was in a stable condition, to hospital.

A sharks committee would carry out an investigation to determine the species and size of the shark involved in the attack. This primarily involves assessing the tooth marks found on the victim, Lambinon said.

"The NSRI is urging people in that area to be aware of incident and to exercise caution," he said.

Reports have reached us of a surfer being bitten at Chintsa East. The surfer, whose name we’ve been asked to withhold for the moment, was surfing in the bay at Chintsa with his wife and a handful of other surfers when he was bitten in the leg and torso.

According to Sharnay Humpel, who was on the beach at the time walking her dog, she saw a bunch of people running out of the sea, calling for a mobile phone. Helpers on the beach called for emergency assistance, and the surfer has been taken off to hospital. According to another bystander who saw the wounds, the attack was serious. It was a big shark.

This is the third time there has been an attack inside the bay. In 1999 a surfer, Colin Grey, was bitten on the leg and board, and in 1990 Richard Forrester had his thigh severely lacerated.

UPDATE 1

Our East London correspondent updates us with the following: The attack was at Chintsa beach break. It was a 3-4m great white, and it came at him "a number of times" (3-4). There are bite marks on his back, stomach and legs. It pulled him underwater. The shark then let him go when another surfer who had a shark shield on started paddling over to help. According to reports, "The shield pulsed and the shark swam away."

The surfer was extremely lucky as there was medic on the beach who helped stabilise him before he got taken to the hospital. He is badly injured, but he'll be okay.

UPDATE 2

"Local" reports: He is in hospital, but stable. Surgery this afternoon. There is no major arterial or organ damage, but a lot of puncture wounds around the back, neck, stomach and upper and lower legs. He has a nasty laceration on his right lower leg that is going to require surgery, possibly reconstructive surgery. While we were helping him up the beach, his leg looked bad, but thank goodness, he is going to be okay.

The NSRI in Cape Town and East London has confirmed that a shark bite on a surfer in East London this morning was not fatal, writes Paul van Jaarsveld.

UPDATE: Denver Struwig is in hospital and doing fine according to the night sister of his ward. Leave a get well comment for him at the end of article!

The attack occurred at Cinsta Beach with the victim, a 27 year old surfer called Denver Struwig, that was out surfing with his mates. He was bumped from his board, and sustained several lacerations to his right lower leg and left upper arm during the attack.

According to Craig Lambinon from NSRI, the surfer´s friends used his surfboard as floatation device and stretcher in the rescue effort and it was no doubt that their fast reaction and organization made a big difference in the situation. A private ambulance service responded to the call, and he is believed to be in a stable condition and was reported to be fully conscious and that the lacerations was not life threatening at the time.

It was also stated by Lambinon that the species of shark has not been identified.

The emergency was handled by Life St. Dominique's hospital, and the victim has been referred to Life Beacon Bay for plastic surgery. He requested not to interface with media at the time, which is fully understandable

From everybody at Wavescape.co.za and no doubt the international surfing community, we wish Denver a safe recovery

Help a brother out: Shark fund set up for Chintsa East shark attack survivor

Chintsa East - scene of the attack.

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Last Friday (22 July) at around noon, the always dreaded news of a shark attack rippled across the country. Chintsa local Denver Struwig was bitten three times by a Zambezi while surfing with his friends out at his local break in clean water and during clear skies.

Thanks to the quick response by friends, community members and the emergency services, Denver received the right treatment at the right time. He was extremely lucky to have survived the ordeal considering the amount of times the shark returned, but not so lucky with the huge medical bill to cover these costs. He has the scars and the hospital bill, but no medical aid.

Eric Harris, a member of Friends of Chintsa, a non-profit organisation in Chintsa East, is heading up the fundraising campaign to assist Denver with his medical costs which have amounted to close to R35k (original costs were looking between R40k - R50K, but the hospital has graciously agreed to lower these costs). Friends of Chintsa is a non-profit organisation in Chintsa East. They host a number of community projects including a development surf programme. They hosted a weekend with development surfers from Port St Johns, Coffee Bay and Knysna 2 weeks ago. They are properly accounted and perfect to host this fund.

The organisation are hosting a fundraising buffet and raffle for Denver at the Country Bumpkin restaurant where all proceeds will be going to the Denver Struhwig Shark fund. Anyone interested in attending the fundraiser please contact: 043 738 5523 or email admin@friendsofchintsa.org. Donations towards this fund are also welcomed and can be deposited into the following account:

They will also have a donations portal up at http://www.givengain.com by tomorrow under Friends of Chintsa and then 'Denver Struwig Shark Fund'.

Friends of Chintsa would also like it to be known that any money raised over the R35k target for Denver's costs will then be pooled in a shark attack fund that will be available in the unfortunate case of another attack.

Below is the actual play-by-play account given by an eye witness of the attack:

The Chintsa local crew were all out by 8:30 am. It was a sunny clear day with some good 3-4 foot right hand waves coming through in the corner of the bay. There were about 10 people out, a good crowd for Chintsa.

After surfing for a few hours most of the crowd left leaving three guys, Denver Struwig, Eric Harris and Murray Elliott (Murray had a shark Pod on his board) in the water. Kristy Struwig, Denver’s wife of three weeks and their friend Tyerell Jordaan were waiting on the beach for Denver to finish up and he was talking about getting a last wave in with Eric and Murray joking about staying a while and having it all to themselves.

It was about 11:00am when the low tide rip set in at the corner messing up the wave and Murray was first to move the 70 or so meters to the next peak while Eric and Denver stayed in the corner hoping for a last good one. After watching a good set go through near Murray they decided to move across with Eric about 5 – 10 metres ahead of Denver. Denver suddenly started yelling in fright and a when Eric looked back he saw what looked like two dolphins surface next to him, exposing itself as a 3m+ bull shark as it brushed past. Denver sat up on his board trying to turn around and face the shark, which moved away approximately 5m before turning to attack him.

Eric initially paddled towards Denver hoping to help but stopped approximately 3 metres away as the attack proper started, unsure what to do. Murray watched the attack from 30-40 metres away, horrified but also waiting to help. After the initial hit in which the shark bit Denver on his leg and foot it paused for a split second before taking him on the shoulder and chest; swimming him to the seabed and pinning him to the sand while thrashing wildly. Eric and Murray estimated that Denver was underwater for about 15-20 seconds, although it felt forever and they were sure that they had lost Denver.

The shark then let Denver go and was not seen again (until the next day when it was seen in the surf by local residents). Denver was floating on the surface and Eric and Murray converged on him, collecting his board on the way. It took about 30 seconds for the guys to get to Denver. They got him on his board and the three of them worked their way back to the beach, Denver did great to stay on his board! They never saw the shark again and may have been protected by Murray’s Shark Pod.

On the beach Tyerell and Kristi had witnessed the attack and initiated a call to the ambulance. Tyerell also ran up to the nearby Buccaneers Backpackers, alerted Sean Price, collected a trauma kit and called Madeleine Muller, a local GP who rushed to the scene. Sean co-ordinated and followed up on the EMS response.

On the beach Eric, Murray and Kristi checked for major bleeding and dressed his injuries with towels borrowed from other beach goers. Mark, a local fisherman brought his Land Rover onto the beach and, after they were sure he had no major bleeding Denver was transported up to the parking lot where first Dr Muller and then the paramedics could assess him. Denver received a bad wound on his right shin, a deep laceration on his inner thigh, which narrowly missed the femoral artery. He had a laceration and row of puncture wounds on his abdomen just below the ribs and a laceration on his left shoulder just above his shoulder blade. Under the circumstances a lucky outcome!

The attack happened on a clear sunny day, mid morning in clean, warm water. There were no dolphins, seabirds or any other signs of activity.

The response of Alderson ambulance, St Dominic’s and Life Hospital in East London, as well as the medical practitioners was superb! They have all done their best to minimize the cost, offering discounts despite the 5-star treatment.

Denver would like to thank the Chintsa Community and local surfers for their help and support. The Chintsa family have been incredible in coming together in support of Denver. Many meals, well wishes and even a wheelchair have been provided. It’s a good place to be when you need a community!

The Chintsa and Surfing community will be hosting a fundraising event to help with Denver’s medical costs. Local restaurants, guesthouses, a marketing company and the surf manufacturers have all joined the drive for funds with direct help and sponsorship